Clock stopping game



Sept. 4, 1962 R. s. CLINE CLOCK sToPPING GAME 2 Sheets--Sheeil l Filed Sept. 28, 1960 l' 2 57dA 3' Q/ INVENTOR Russell 8. 6]1116 ATTORNEY R. S. CLINE CLOCK STOPPING GAME sept. 4, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 28, 1960 United States Patent O 3,052,471 CLOCK STPPING GAME Russell S. Cline, 802 Boulevard, Statesville, N.C. Filed Sept. 28, 1960, Ser. N0. 59,112 7 Claims. (Cl. 273-1) This invention relates to a clock-stopping game of skill and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts hereinafter `described and claimed.

Generally, there is provided a panel `forming the front face of a housing and bearing thereon a relatively large clock face calibrated in hours and minutes, a single clock hand mounted to sweep said face, an electric motor drivingly connected to said hand through a gear train constructed to rotate said hand at a speed of the order of twenty to forty revolutions per minute, a vmicro-switch connected in the circuit of said motor to start and stop the same, a pivoted trigger for operating said switch, a card-holding slide, a transparent panel covering said slide and closely underlying said trigger, mounting structure for said slide, said mounting structure and slide being constructed and arranged for moving cards in sequence between said trigger and transparent panel so as to close said switch thereby and by further movement thereof to open said switch while still retaining the last inserted card in observable position until displaced by a subsequently inserted card, whereby a card bearing a players name and the time of issuance will by partial insertion start the hand moving over the clock face and by full insertion to visible but irretrievable position will stop said hand for matching comparison by the player and/ or a judge with the time impressed on the card just inserted.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a game of skill in which the player starts and stops a clock by a progressive insertion of his playing card into a manually operated switching device controlled by the playing card.

It is another object to provide such a device in which the card is irretrievable after the clock is started.

It is a further object to provide apparatus of this type in which the played card is held after playing in a window for permitting visual comparison of its data with the time indicated by the stopped clock.

It is a still further object to provide such apparatus in which each displayed card is automatically discarded by the subsequently inserted card.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the clock-controlling mechanism, in section taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 3 is a perspective View of the card-introducing device of FIGURE 2, with a card in place and ready to play,

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the parts in clock-energizing positions.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURES 3 and 4 but showing the parts in their play-ending positions, and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram of the clock-energizing circuit.

With reference now to the drawings, the numeral 11 generally designates the device as a whole. The device 11 is herein disclosed as comprising a vertically elon- -gated rectangular housing formed of a pair of parallel upright side strips of wood or composition board 13 and 14 and a pair of horizontally disposed shorter strips 15 and 16, respectively connecting the upper and lower ends of the strips 13 and 14 at mitered corner joints 17.

A front panel 19 of plywood or composition board or ice other suitable material covers the front of the frame 13-16 and is fastened thereby as by screws 21.

The upper half of the panel 19 has a clock face 19f either drawn thereon or printed on a sheet or panel (not shown) which can be pasted or otherwise attached to the panel 19 in known manner. A dial covering and protecting panel Z3 of transparent glass or plastic covers .the clock face 19j in spaced relationship to the panel 19 as shown in FIG. 2 and is held assembled with the device 11 by a mitered cornered wooden frame formed of the four elements 25-28, which have inwardly facing circumferentially aligned grooves 29 glass-retainingly engaging the edge of panel 23.

Frame elements 2S-28 are xed to the panel 19 and also to the housing frame 13-16 yby the relatively long screws 31.

A clock hand 33 having its indicating tip extending to the calibrations 19e is mounted on the shaft 35 for sweeping around the clock dial 19e. Shaft 35 is driven at a speed of the order of 20 to 40 revolutions per minute by an electric motor of conventional construction (not shown) and is mounted within a motor housing generally designated M and is in known manner provided with a gear train for reducing the speed of the shaft 35 to the value above mentioned. The unit housed in the motor housing M is attached to the back of the panel 19 in any suitable manner as, for example, by the use of face exposed screws 37 passing through said panel 19 and into threaded apertures in the housing M.

Electric energy is supplied to the motor M by the power input cable 39 (FIG. 6). A normally open microswitch `41 is inserted in the motor circuit by the leads 43 and 44.

Microswitch 41 is mounted in an aperture in the panel 19 as best shown in FIG. 2. A block 45 of wood or other suitable material has its lower central portion cut away to form a recess into the upper portion of which the button 41h for operation of the microswitch 41 protrudes.

A lever or trigger 47 substantially fills said recess and is pivoted for slight movement therein by a transversely extending horizontal pivot pin 49 (FIGS. l and 2). Lever or trigger 47 is stopped in its outward movement (FIG. 2) by engagement of its upper end against the inner face of the glass or transparent plastic panel 51 which is fixed in spaced parallelism relative to the panel 19 by the spacer strips 53 and 54. The panel 51 and the strips 53 and 54 are all fixed to the panel 19 by the screws 55.

The card-inserting slide generally designated at 57 may be conveniently made of a piece of plywood or equivalent material of a width and thickness to t snugly but yet easily slidably within the space between the panels 19 and S1 and between the spacer strips 53 and 54. The center of the element 57 is cut away so that the slider57 may move upwardly yand downwardly in the guideway with said slide element straddling the block 45 the upper end of which engages the upper edge of the cut out central portion of the slide 57 at 57 to prevent complete withdrawal of the slide element 57 from its guide channel.

Slide element 57 has a thumb-receiving depression 57d in its lower front face for facilitating clasping by the player. The slide 57 is also notched at 5711 on each side of the centrally cut out portion to provide shallow shoulder seats for receiving the playing card 59, with its data-bearing face flush with the upper surface of the slide element 57 as best shown in FIG, 3.

The mode of operation of the game device is as follows: with the playing card 59 in the position shown for the card 59 and slide 57 in FIG. 3, the player moves the slide upwardly to bring the card 59 into a position overlying the trigger 47 as shown in FIG. 4. The card 59 is sufliciently thick to swing the trigger 47 against the abutment 4111 of the microswitch 41 causing said switch to close and thus energizing the motor M.

The player, having noted the time stamped on his playing card, carefully watches the progress of the clock hand 33 as it sweeps over the dial calibrations 19C at the rate of approximately a revolution every two seconds, and as the hand 33 approaches the time inscribed on his playing card, the slide 57 is quickly pushed all the way up in the slide guide to interrupt the circuit by pushing the card 59 beyond the upper end of trigger 47. This permits trigger 47 to snap from its depressed position back against the inner surface of the glass panel 51, thus permitting button 4llb to return to its normal position breaking the circuit to the motor M.

The skill in the game resides in so gauging the position of the hand that the inertia of the motor and gear train will cause the hand 33 to stop at or very close to the time inscribed on the playing card 59. If the player is successful he will call an attendant or judge for the purpose of having himself acclaimed a winner.

The card 59 that has just been played remains in the visible position of FIG. 5 until the next card 59 is played. The play of the second card 59 causes the previously played card S9 to drop into the hole 19a cut in the panel 19 just above the upper end of the block 45.

While but one form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it Will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for playing a clock-stopping game of skill, comprising: a hollow housing, clock means carried by said housing and including a clock dial and a relatively movable indicator, an electric motor, means coupling said electric motor to said clock means to effect the relative movement of said dial and indicator, a normally open switch in the power supply circuit of said motor, a playing piece, mechanism for receiving and holding said playing piece and for moving the same to an irretrievable position within said apparatus through a small area linger-access-preventing aperture in said housing,

means responsive to partial insertion of said piece for closing said switch, said last-named means being constructed and arranged to permit opening of said switch upon full insertion of said piece, and structure for holding said piece, when fully inserted, in a position to permit identication thereof, whereby information conveyable by said piece will be available for comparison with the reading on said clock means for evaluating the just completed play.

2. Apparatus according to claim l, said clock dial having a flat face calibrated in hours and subdivisions thereof and said indicator being a hand, mounted for sweeping over said face from a pivot centrally located on said face.

3. Apparatus according to claim l, said coupling means being a gear train constructed and arranged to move said indicator at a speed of the Order of thirty revolutions per minute.

4. Apparatus according to claim l, said switch being a microswitch and said piece being of wafer shape and of sufficient thickness to close said microswitch.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, said piece being a card having space thereon for legibly marking the same with the time of issuance thereof and with player-identifying information.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, said mechanism being a slide-type holder for said piece, said holder being mounted in a stationary guide structure including a window through which said piece can be viewed but through which said piece cannot be removed.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, said window holding said piece in viewing position after playing thereof, said holder having a discharge passage through which said played piece is automatically discarded when engaged by a subsequently played piece.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,491,888 Baker Dec. 20, 1949 2,717,158 Dieterich Sept. 6, 1955 2,799,500 Zekowski Iuly 16, 1957 2,936,684 Simjian May 17, 1960 

